


Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Carver

by heyjupiter



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Halloween, Marvel Spooky Scramble, Minor Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau, Minor Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27228106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/pseuds/heyjupiter
Summary: Peter is grateful for the chance to spend a gap year in Wakanda, working with Shuri in her lab. He knows it's an amazing opportunity, but he's also maybe a tiny bit homesick. Luckily for him, Carol Danvers drops by Shuri's lab one October morning, and she knows just what Peter needs: a little taste of Halloween.
Relationships: Carol Danvers & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Shuri
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36
Collections: Marvel Spooky Scramble 2020





	Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Carver

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the [Marvel Spooky Scramble](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MarvelSpookyScramble2020/), where everyone was assigned two random characters and a Halloween-adjacent prompt. I got Peter Parker & Carol Danvers decorating the house for Halloween. (I took a slight liberty with the definition of "house.")
> 
> Thanks to xxx_cat_xxx for beta reading, and thanks to the organizers of the Scramble! I had a lot of fun with this prompt.

Peter eyed the motley assortment of squashes he'd picked up at the market earlier that day. The merchants had generally gotten used to Peter's cluelessness, but he'd thrown them for a loop today. He'd lugged his purchases back to Shuri's lab, where he was trying to figure out which one would be most amenable to carving. The one that was most pumpkin-shaped was a mottled greenish, but maybe he could make it look like a Frankenstein( _'s creature_ , he mentally added, even though MJ wasn't there to correct him). The most orange one had more of a rounded hourglass shape to it. Maybe he could give it two faces?

It would be fun. It was fine that they weren't like American pumpkins—but that was the point. He'd wanted a gap year to get a new perspective before starting college, and he knew what an honor it was that Shuri had offered him a role here in Wakanda. And jack o'lanterns were kids' stuff, anyway. He and Shuri were basically the same age, and she was practically running a country while he wanted to play around with pumpkins? Dumb.

He was still mulling over his options when he heard footsteps approaching. Very few people had access to Shuri's lab, and he was surprised when he looked up and saw a new face. He stood up from his stool and blurted out, "Ms. Marv—Danvers—Captain—"

She laughed and said, "Hey, Peter Parker. You can just call me Carol."

He nodded. "Okay, um, cool. C—Carol." He would have thought that months with the Princess of Wakanda (and occasional contact with other members of the royal family) would have made him less starstruck, but, well— _Captain Marvel_ , though. She was amazing.

She smiled and said, "Do you know where Shuri is?"

"Oh, uh, she had a meeting with the security council, I think. Something like that. Is it—is there an emergency?"

"Nah, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by. Last time I talked to her she mentioned that she could upgrade my comms for me," Carol said, indicating her wrist cuff.

"In the neighborhood?"

"On Earth, I mean."

God, Captain Marvel was _so cool_. 

She looked at Peter's work table and asked, "Are you making a casserole?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I—it's dumb." He felt like such a baby admitting any homesickness to Carol Danvers, who spent most of her time in _space_.

"I doubt that, I heard you were a genius." Peter felt his cheeks grow hot, and she said, "Oh, it's October on Earth, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Not that it felt like fall in Wakanda, it was still super hot out. "So—um, so, but, I went to the market, and they had a bunch of squashes but they didn't have any, like, _pumpkin_ pumpkins? And I know they don't celebrate Halloween in Wakanda, but I just thought it would be, like, kinda fun...I—I know it's stupid, though…'

She tilted her head at the squashes and furrowed her eyebrows. "Do you know how long Shuri's meeting is supposed to last?"

Peter glanced at his kimoyo beads. "Uh...it only started like an hour ago, and they're usually kinda long. A couple more hours at least, probably."

She smiled. "I will be _right_ back," she said, and flew out of the room at a dizzying speed, leaving a bright afterimage in Peter's eyes.

"So cool," Peter whispered. He decided to start carving the lumpy green squash first, and carefully scooped the insides into a stainless steel bowl so he could roast the seeds later. In Shuri's lab, he had access to a precise laser-cutter tool that was much better for carving than May's dull kitchen knives were. He'd managed to create a decent Frankenstein('s creature) face by the time Carol swept back into the lab, her arms filled with reusable Target bags.

"Ooh, that looks cool!" she said.

"Thanks! Did you...go to Target?" Wakanda hadn't opened its doors to international businesses yet, but Peter thought there might be Targets in South Africa or Nigeria. 

"Yeah, I thought you could use some stuff." She set the bags down on an empty work table and started unloading ghost-shaped Christmas lights, plastic candy buckets, fake spider webs...all kinds of stuff. Then she slapped her forehead. "Oh man, I totally forgot pumpkins. One sec."  
She flew out of the room and left Peter there to sort out the bounty she'd brought. It was barely 10AM in Wakanda, yet he couldn't help but tear open the bag of candy corn she'd brought. The food in Wakanda was amazing, but they didn't import many processed foods and sometimes he missed the sickly-sweetness that only Americans seemed willing—or able—to produce.

He absentmindedly ate candy corn while wondering what Shuri would do if she came back to a lab covered in fake spider webs. He decided not to risk it; Shuri had a good sense of humor, but she was _very_ protective of her lab. 

Anyway, Peter's web fluid was biodegradable, so he'd be better off using that if he wanted to do something in here. 

Carol returned with her arms full of a precarious pile of beautiful round, orange, familiar pumpkins.

"Awesome!" Peter said. "Thank you so much, really."

She shrugged. "No problem. I've got some time to kill. And I used to love Halloween."

"Oh. Cool."

She added, "I mean, I still love it, I just haven't been on a planet that celebrates it for awhile."

"My best friend Ned and I used to trick or treat, like, even when we were too old," Peter confided. 

"Well yeah, I mean, it's free candy, right?" Carol said. She directed a small beam of energy out from her hands and started to cut the top off of her pumpkins.

" _So cool_ ," Peter whispered fervently, although Carol frowned at the scent of burning pumpkin and picked up a knife. "Uh, yeah, exactly. And it was just like...fun to wear a costume. I mean, before all the, uh, Spider-Man stuff."

"Right." Carol took a spoon and started to scoop out her pumpkin expertly. "It's kind of hard for me to remember when I was a kid myself, but I remember taking Monica trick or treating. It was the best. Her school made them pick educational costumes and she was the _cutest_ Amelia Earhart."

"Who?" Peter set aside his green Frankensquash and started preparing an American orange pumpkin for himself.

"Legendary aviatrix? First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic?"

"No, not—I know who Amelia Earhart is. Who's Monica?"

"Oh, my girlfriend's daughter," Carol said. She bit her lip, focusing on her pumpkin. "What day is it, exactly?"

"It's October 3rd."

"Awesome. Maybe I should stick around Earth for a little while, take her trick or treating again even if she thinks she's too old. Let somebody else deal with the universe's problems for a minute."

Peter nodded. "Yeah, like, the Guardians of the Galaxy could help!"

"Exactly." Carol smiled.

After a moment of quiet carving, Peter asked, "Um, Carol? Can I ask...do you...do you ever miss...Earth?"

"Well, of course. It's just that a lot of people need my help."

"Right. So, um...never mind."

"No, what?"

"I just—I don't know, how do you do it?"

"It helps that I'm usually too busy to think much. And I make a lot of intergalactic video calls." She made a few more cuts in her pumpkin, then added, "Where are you from? Not Wakanda, I know."

"New York. Queens."

"Do you want to go back for a visit? I can take you. Sorry, I should have asked before I went on my Target run. But it's no trouble."

Peter thought about it for a moment. He knew if he wanted to visit home, Shuri would help him arrange it any time. But he also knew what would be waiting for him in New York, and what—who— _wouldn't_ be. "No—no thanks. I think I miss—I mostly miss—um, the way things used to be. It's...different now."

"I can understand that. For what it's worth...it does get easier. With time."

Peter nodded. May had told him that too, and the grief counselor he'd seen back in New York, and, well, he'd heard it a lot. 

He wondered if Carol was a mind-reader in addition to her super strength and flying and photon blasts and all, because then she said, "You've probably heard that a lot. Sorry, but it is true."

"No, right, yeah," Peter said. He gripped his pumpkin too tightly and crushed the top in.

Carol glanced at it and smiled. "Unexpected drawbacks of super strength, right?"

"Right," Peter said with a sigh. "I'm mostly better about it but sometimes…"

"It happens," Carol said with a shrug. "Maybe you can put a hat on it or something."

Peter wrapped the damaged top of his pumpkin with webfluid. "Or a wig? It's like an old lady pumpkin."

"Ooh, or keep going with that, wrap the whole thing up and it's a mummy!" Peter laughed and kept transforming his pumpkin. It was nice to use the web fluid for something fun for a change.

As Peter finished wrapping up his pumpkin, Shuri walked in and shrieked, "What are you doing in my lab?! Was the kitchen closed?!"

"Oh...hey, Shuri, sorry," Peter said sheepishly. When he'd first come to Wakanda, Peter had thrown himself into work. There was so much to do—and besides, when he was working, it kept his mind off of...the things he didn't want to think about. Shuri had always insisted that they take breaks to keep from getting burned out, but he supposed she hadn't really meant something like this. "We'll clean up."

" _Literally_ what are you doing?" she asked, leaning in closer.

"Carving pumpkins! For Halloween."

"Oh yes, I have seen this in American movies," Shuri said. "It seems a waste of squash, when we could simply create holographic displays."

"Yeah, it's just, like, tradition?"

Shuri nodded. "Very well. I suppose I should participate in this cultural interchange."

"Oh, you don't have to—"

Shuri cut him off and said, "May I have this squash?"

"Yes, you may," Carol said.

"I am glad you made it back to Earth safely, Captain Danvers," Shuri said.

"Carol is fine, Shuri."

"I respect my elders," Shuri said. Peter thought about the way Shuri talked to her brother and raised his eyebrows. Shuri caught his eye and laughed.

Carol shook her head and said, "You have to cut the top open and scoop out the insides."

"I suppose the goats can feast on this," she said. She cut out a basic face, then added elegant symbols resembling the face paint he'd seen her wear for formal events. Unsurprisingly, her carving turned out beautifully. Peter's mummy turned out kind of cool. Carol had made hers into a cat's face. "Now what?" Shuri asked.

"Well, we put them somewhere outside and light a candle inside of them," Peter explained. "At night."

"A candle...or color changing holographic projection?" She frowned. "Or is the candle necessary? Is that disrespectful of your primitive tradition?"

Peter laughed. "No, that's fine. A lot of people do little LED lights inside now. Anyway it's just for fun, it's not religious or anything. Er...at least not anymore? I think it used to be a pagan holiday or something?"

She nodded. "The truest American tradition is capitalism."

"I—well, I guess," Peter said. 

"Halloween is about a redistribution of wealth," Carol said. "Candy for the masses."

"Yeah!" Peter agreed. "Oh, do you want some?" He offered the bag of candy corn to Shuri.

She cautiously put a piece of candy corn in her mouth and grimaced. "Is this a trick?"

"No," Peter said. "But this is, I guess?" He carefully jammed two pieces of candy corn over his front teeth and grinned at her. "Boo, I'm a vampire!"

Carol laughed, and Shuri said, "Ah. I see. So this is not meant for consumption?"

"No, it is," Peter said. He took off his candy fangs and ate them. "It's just, uh...fun."

"I see," Shuri said, in a tone that suggested that she didn't. "Let us return to the topic of the pumpkins. I have seen trick or treating in movies, and I understand that each household is expected to supply a large quantity of candies. But traditionally the candy is placed in bowls, correct? It would be messy to put it inside the pumpkin."

"Yeah, the pumpkins are separate," Peter said. "You just carve them out so you can put a candle in it, for decoration. You can put candy in a bowl or whatever."

"I understand," Shuri said. 

When they'd finished cleaning up, Peter said, "I can go take these back to my apartment if you guys need to work on Carol's comms."

Shuri recoiled. "Why will you take my pumpkin?"

"Oh, I just figured—you wouldn't want this stuff cluttering up your lab?"

"We can decorate the courtyard," Shuri said. "After all, part of your placement in our exchange program is not only to learn about Wakandan culture, but also to share yours."

"Oh, okay, um, awesome!" Peter said.

Carol said, "I should have gotten some more inflatables, then."

"Give me your communicator, please," Shuri said. Carol handed over the device. Shuri opened it up with her expert touch and showed Peter what she was doing as she made the necessary upgrades in less than five minutes. She smiled. "Now that that is taken care of, please, tell me more about these inflatables."

The three of them hauled their pumpkins and Carol's collection of Target bags out to the courtyard, where Shuri illuminated the jack o'lanterns with burning holograms. Carol revealed the giant inflatable Great Pumpkin Snoopy she'd bought; Shuri shook her head at the primitive wiring and loud electric fan that kept it inflated. "I will fix this later," she promised. For the time being, they deflated Snoopy and focused on the rest of Carol's gifts. They hung orange and black garlands and set up the styrofoam graveyard with stones for "Al. B. Bach," "Dr. Acula," and "I Told You I Was Sick." 

"This is very macabre," Shuri observed cheerfully.

Carol flew overhead, distributing the fake cobwebs, while Peter climbed the walls of the courtyard and supplemented with his own webfluid. 

"What connection do spiders have to Halloween?" Shuri asked.

"Um, I don't know, they're just kind of scary?" Peter said.

"Fake spiderwebs are classic Halloween decorations," Carol agreed. She hung a large plastic spider from a web-covered tree branch and eyed it with satisfaction.

"So this holiday is of particular significance to Spider-Man?"

"Um—not really, I mean...I guess?" Peter said. "I never really thought about it that way before."

"Many West African cultures tell stories of a spider, Anansi the trickster," Shuri said. "Perhaps he is connected to this celebration."

"Um...maybe?" Peter said, though he didn't think that was the case. "That's cool, though. I can't think of any spiders in American stories. Oh, _Charlotte's Web_ , I guess."

Shuri nodded. "Now. We have carved the squashes, we have decorated...and now we wait until the 31st, when we will ask for candy? Are we missing any other steps?"

"I mean, yeah, but I...I mean we can't go trick or treating here, people won't be…" Peter trailed off, having recognized the inspired look in Shuri's eyes.

"I will have a proclamation prepared," Shuri said. Being friends with a princess was really weird sometimes.

"Uh, cool?" Peter said. "Then we'll need costumes."

"I might have to come back to see this," Carol said.

"Oh yes, Captain Danvers, if you are on Earth on October 31st, you are certainly invited to Wakanda's inaugural Halloween festival, along with any guests you'd like to bring."

Carol tapped at her wrist cuff. "I'm putting it in my calendar," she said. "Thanks for the upgrades, Shuri!"

"You are welcome."

"Thanks for the candy and stuff, Carol! This was really cool!" Peter said.

Carol smiled. "It was, wasn't it? See you around, Peter Parker." She flew off without further farewell.

"She is so cool," Peter said to Shuri.

Shuri nodded in agreement. "Now, we should start preparing our costumes. We only have four weeks until Halloween! I have a few ideas, but I will require your counsel, Peter…"

* * *

On the night of October 31st, Shuri helped Peter put the finishing touches on his very realistic spider costume.

"I understand now why some are afraid of spiders," she said. "You look terrifying."

"You made this!"

"And I did excellent work," she said. "It is very convincing." She wore a beautiful white Princess Leia costume with her hair in two puffs and a probably-fake blaster at her hip. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Peter said. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he was aware of a presence at the door before he even heard the knock—which was weird, since usually his high-tech holographic doorbell system alerted him of guests before they could get close to the door. Also usually Shuri was the only one who visited him at his apartment here. He glanced at Shuri and saw her smiling, so he opened the door. 

Standing on his doorstep were MJ and Ned, plus Carol and two women he didn't know. "Trick or treat!" they chorused.

MJ said, "Wow, Peter, that costume is disgusting, I love it." She was dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, with a name tag that said "Hello, my name is: a serial killer (they dress just like everyone else)." She hugged him, although it was a little awkward with Peter's extra attached limbs.

"Seriously, do you have any candy?" Ned asked. He wore a yellow Starfleet uniform, complete with a replica of Geordi La Forge's visor. "They didn't feed us on the plane." Peter hugged him too.

Carol said, "Uh, sorry, the Quinjet doesn't have flight attendants. Good to see you, Peter."

"You too! Uh, nice costume," Peter managed. He couldn't believe his friends were really here, nor could he believe that Carol was wearing an ill-fitting, store bought Spider-Man costume, minus the mask. It was _so weird_ that they sold those now. He remembered being a kid and wearing an Iron Man costume—he took a deep breath and tried to focus on the present. The present where he could hug his girlfriend and his best friend for real, not just through holographic video chats.

Shuri shook her head. "Captain Danvers, had I known this was the costume you wanted, I could have prepared something for you."

"This is fine," she said. "Hey, I want you to meet my partner Maria and her daughter Monica." Maria was wearing a Captain Marvel costume—possibly Carol's real one, since it looked way better than the polyester onesie Carol wore—and Monica, who was about Peter's age, wore a store bought Black Panther costume.

"Nice to meet you!" Peter said, offering handshakes.

"This is so cool. I can't believe we get to come to Wakanda," Monica said. Peter introduced her to Shuri, and both women seemed delighted to meet each other, although Shuri seemed both amused and offended by Monica's costume. He wouldn't be surprised if Monica ended up with a major upgrade before the end of the night. 

He turned to Carol and said, "Carol, seriously, thank you so much for bringing my friends here, this is amazing!"

She smiled. "Well, I know how you can repay me."

"Of course, anything."

She held a plastic pumpkin in his face and said, "I like Reese's cups. Trick or treat!"

**Author's Note:**

> PS: in case you were wondering, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to see what kinds of gourds and squashes might grow in the part of Africa where Wakanda is. Basically I think the kind of pumpkins that Americans have bred for carving (bigger and less sweet than pie pumpkins) probably could grow there but I don't know that they would choose to plant them, since they don't have the same foodways. Peter ended up getting stuff like [a kiffy squash](https://oldwayspt.org/blog/african-squashes-and-gourds-galore), [gem squash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gem_squash), and [a calabash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabash).


End file.
